The Impact of Technical Error of Measurement on Somatotype Categorization

Inquiry into somatotype often seeks to assign participants into somatotype groups. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how the intra-tester reliability of anthropometric measures can influence how somatotype is categorized. Sixty-eight physically active males (mean [SD] 24.8 [7.9] y; 79.8 [14.4] kg; 1.81 [0.07] m) had their anthropometric profiles measured and somatotype components calculated. Technical error of measurement (TEM) was used to calculate 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall somatotype calculation (RTEM) for the data collected by the lead researcher. CIs were further calculated based on the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry accreditation Level 1 and 2/3 thresholds. Somatotype groups were categorized as either simple (four groups) or detailed (13 groups). RTEM had the smallest TEM values (0.05 somatotype units). Detailed somatotype categorization demonstrated larger potential for misclassification (39.7–72.1%) versus simple categorization (29.4–38.2%). Researchers investigating somatotype should keep technical skill high and group according to the four simple somatotype categories in order to maintain acceptable categorization reliability.